Forty years is a long time, but curiously many of us see a forty year old car and for some reason that span of time doesn’t really register. Perhaps in our mind’s eye we still see the car as it was when new, or how desirable it used to be, or perhaps we are used to some cars generally always being kept in fine shape, certainly expensive ones such as this one. While there have always been Mercedes beaters (and perhaps today there are more than ever before at a younger age than ever before), seeing an old discarded one that is clearly used up and showing every one of its years and miles is not an everyday occurrence.
So it was with this 1979 280SE from the house that Gottlieb and Karl built. This one isn’t going to have anyone gnashing their teeth about what a waste it is to have ended up here, and nobody wants to rescue it. While once undoubtedly a fine example of the brand’s flagship, it’s been heading downhill for a long time now.
In 1979, when this one was new, it was nearing the tail end of its generation. Built from late 1972 until 1980, the W116 chassis was always an impressive machine, and the first version to officially be called the “S-Class”. From the beginning until the end there was always a regular wheelbase 280SE in the range, with a straight six featuring fuel injection. As such it was actually the volume model, selling over 150,000 in that guise. While we may be more familiar with the diesel 300SD or the longer 450SEL or certainly the brutish 450SEL 6.9 version, Mercedes was steadily shifting regular 280s by the shipload.
Under that obviously replaced hood with zero regard for appearances, thus likely more recent than not, lies the formerly beating heart of the beast. As stated, an inline six like the best Benzes used to have (and now many will once again feature I-6’s according to recent news), the U.S. version of the DOHC 2.8liter mill produced 142hp and 149lb-ft of torque, or about 20-25% less than the same engine did in Europe, backed by a 4-speed automatic.
I was a little kid when these debuted for 1973 and while the smaller sedans were more plentiful, this is somehow what I always associated with Mercedes, that wonderfully wide rear end with the just as wide rear lights, leaving just enough space for a standard issue european license plate. Those look like the non-US bumpers too on this rig; while still large, they don’t look anywhere as huge as what I usually see on these.
Fairly capacious trunk volume with a large and well-worn spare tire. Nicely lined except for the lid, and the high liftover height from before people (except Saab) really concerned themselves with such things.
Obviously some people have had their way with the interior before I got here but it still looks opulent and one can well imagine the luxury evident when new. The “safety” steering wheel from the days before airbags is interesting with a design meant to cushion and absorb impact as well as the fact that this generation S-Class was the first car to (in 1978) offer ABS as an option, in Europe at least.
But take a look at those HVAC controls, a single dial? Could this be a car without A/C? I thought the S-Classes of this generation in the US always featured TWO dials or full electronic controls for the further upmarket models. Or is it possible that this car was a grey-market import and updated with the exterior bits such as headlights as required for a US car?
This sticker in the door jamb seems to indicate that it was imported by or for a Mr. Steve Sweeny as that is no factory tag. I can’t find mention of “Exotic European Car Center” online but many of these conversion shops closed up shop in the 1980’s when the manufacturers really started cracking down on the practice. But if this has no A/C, that’d be a tough pill to swallow for a luxury automobile driver, especially as this car showed evidence of lots of time here in Colorado where a lack of A/C might be tolerable but also down in the Dallas area where I know I couldn’t tolerate being in a car without it.
Perhaps the original owner figured that with the sunroof there’d be plenty of ventilation. Overall this one is a bit of a weird spec. No A/C, but sunroof, power windows, metallic paint, and the second from the lowest rung engine (there was a carburetted 280S on offer as well in Europe).
Either way, 212,000 miles is quite good for a car of this age but nothing special for a Mercedes. The gauges offer another clue that this was an import, as the markings on the left gauge are in German and the temperature markings are in Celsius, I have found another 1979 US market 280SE with the temperature in Fahrenheit as well as the oil pressure gauge in PSI instead of BAR.
But those seats do not look like they have 212,000 miles of wear on them, a testament to the quality of materials used in this car. Supremely comfortable, perfect for streaking across the European continent or perhaps the 800-mile Dallas-Denver run in one sitting every month or so for years on end.
This is the first time I realized the fuel filler lid was hinged on the bottom which is a bit of a curiosity. I suppose it’s easier to manufacture and install/line up that way in this case but still. It does stop one from spilling that droplet of gasoline on the exterior of the body so if that was the aim I applaud it. Some of those old gas pumps, you can shake it all you want and there’ll still be a drop to come when zipping, oops, I mean closing the lid.
The tank reportedly holds over 25 US gallons, that’s as much as most fullsize pickups, but engined as this one is should be able to just about reach 20mpg at a steady cruise allowing for an almost 500 mile range.
I never declared this a creampuff and some rust was clearly evident since the beginning of this post, but here’s stark evidence of it being time to let this one go. That’s rough stuff for around here. Perhaps if this car did come from Europe it saw some harsh times before arriving here.
Here’s the diagonally opposite (front) corner. That chrome chickenlip may have hid the first few rust bubbles but eventually it busted out. I’d hate to see what’s under the chrome, probably almost nothing.
Coventry? Is that a country club in Dallas? Or a gated condo complex? Doesn’t sound familiar for Colorado but I haven’t been here that long either.
I’ll have to start checking more of these tags for the older cars, I was always under the impression that there was usually a “W” for West ahead of the Germany until reunification. I know all of my own paperwork always clearly spelled out West back in the day.
Someone snagged the grille, but nobody wants the sealed beam sad jokes of headlights. Shocking. Yes, easy and cheap to replace but woefully inadequate compared to what was standard elsewhere for a steed that is capable of running at well over twice the highest top speed in this land back in the day and doing so all night long for as many nights as you’d want it to.
In any case, I too really like/admire the successor W126 to this model, but while that one is pure machine and really sealed Mercedes’ image as the luxury brand for the 1980’s and just powers along (magnificently so, I hasten to add and am taking nothing away from it at all), this generation seems to have a bit more soul and personality. This one in particular likely has more stories to tell than most and has probably seen more than most as well. If anyone knows Mr. Steve Sweeny, try to hit him up for some of those stories, I know I’d like to know more.
Related Reading:
Don Andreina’s Outtake on a 6.9
Tatra87’s In-Motion take on an early 280S
Jason Shafer on an even earlier 450SE
Paul Niedermeyer’s CC on a 450SEL 6.9
You’re right, Jim. It’s a grey import modified to meet “applicable US regulations at time of manufacturing”. Otherwise, there would be a compliance plate stating “Mercedes-Benz of North America” (before it changed to Mercedes-Benz USA and Mercedes-Benz Canada in the 1980s).
The rear red side running lamps look like they have been tinted with Tamiya clear red paint or something similar: a very common thing when you couldn’t buy the US taillamps from the friendly Mercedes-Benz part department unless you have the VIN to match. Or bagging one at the wrecking yard. Or stealing from the US models.
When my father brought 1977 450SEL to the US in 1982, he elected not to modfiy it to meet the US regulations and ticked “personal import” box on the customs form. This “personal import” clause allowed the exemption as long as it was for personal use, meaning we couldn’t sell it in the US. The vehicle must be at least five-year-old at time of importation.
That clause was eliminated in 1987 due to massive fraudulent activities amongst the grey importers and modifiers.
I don’t recall seeing any/many of that color, which is really attractive. Yes, the no-a/c is interesting for someone importing a car of this cost and quality back then. I knew of pretty much nobody who was buying anything better than a Fairmont or Volare who was not popping for the a/c. And I live hundreds of miles north of Dallas.
These expensive cars in junkyards make me sad. You wonder what was the very first thing that got broken/damaged or that failed and was left un-fixed. Whatever it was, it would have marked the beginning of a long and ugly slide.
Jim – The car was sold once at least by Valley Motors in Englewood. I knew Valley well, and the proprietor. It was on the east side of Broadway, between Hampden and Belleview and in an area of many other used car lots. I bought two Mercedes there – one in 2002 and another in 2007.
The specialty was Mercedes and there were often some excellent ones displayed in the small (about 5 cars) showroom. The lot had maybe another twenty or thirty cars and they were almost exclusively Mercedes. An Audi, a VW and two or three Porsches might be present but it was clearly the place in Denver to buy a used Mercedes. I don’t remember too many grey market cars there but a sedan like this was not what I was looking for.
I have a friend who owned a new US market ’79 280SE; he was very disappointed by the poor acceleration. He used the car mostly around town so I understand. The Euro one would have been better in that regard.
Looks like there’s a gated community in Littleton called Coventry — and it appears to have been built in the late 1970s, so it would seemingly fit this car, the parking decal design, and the dealership badge from Englewood, which is nearby. I can see a doctor buying a car like this when new, and also living in a mansard-roofed gated-community house, so that appears to fit this car’s puzzle.
Definitely the same Coventry — this is the entrance gate from Google StreetView… same lettering design as the Mercedes’ parking decal:
Thanks for the sleuthing! And there do happen to be a lot of mansard-roofed homes around that area…
I did find some information on the Exotic European Car Center. It was a Gray Market importer / used car dealer based in Westchester County, NY that was in business from 1984 to 1997.
I’ve attached the archived listing from the New York State Division of Corporations. What’s odd here, of course, is that the company appears to have started operations in 1984 — does that mean that our featured 5-year-old 280SE was imported as a used car? I don’t know what the gray market regulations were at the time… was it somehow easier to imported used vehicles as opposed to new ones?
The dates here correspond with classified ads in the New York Times. The Exotic European Car Center placed newspaper ads (there were lots of gray market dealers ads in the NYT back then) starting in 1985. All of those ads that I saw advertised used cars, but identified the business as a “gray market specialist.”
Here’s one of the classified ads. Like I mentioned above, these ads began in 1985. It’s possible that a company of an identical name operated in another state as well, though I sort of doubt it.
Like I said in the first posting, importing a vehicle at least five years old was exempted from meeting the US regulations as long as it was registered for a personal use, meaning it couldn’t be sold to other party in the US.
That’s where lot of mail fraud was committed. The importers would use the names of their family members, relatives, and others to register the vehicles so they didn’t have to carry out the modification work. Then, they sold the vehicles, unmodified, to the public despite this restriction. Sometimes, the grey importer would “certify” it as at least five years old despite what’s embossed on the manufacturer’s plates.
US DOT relied on “honour system” of the importers to be “honest” with the applications and photographic evidences of modifications carried out on the grey imports. Sometimes, the importers would use the same photos again and again when submitting the applications for different vehicles.
I think it was Autoweek that did a very extensive exposé on a grey importer from California, arrested for long list of charges such as mail fraud, and the caveat of grey import industry. I am trying to remember his name, but it was a huge news in 1985 or thereabout.
Thanks, that clarifies a lot of this. When I read your comment regarding your father’s personal import, I assumed that the gray market importers were governed by a different set of regulations. Well, apparently not. And I assume the restriction on resales was widely ignored on all of these gray market cars.
In the case of the 1985 New York Times classified ad above, there were about a dozen similar ads from other gray market importers Above those, was a half-page ad from the local Mercedes-Benz dealer network stressing the importance of buying from an authorized dealer.
The same (or similar) thing has been happening further downstream now wherein people buy a new car in the US and then export it directly to China and other places. The reason being that the cars are so much cheaper here without the higher market prices and higher taxes that are assessed over there etc.
Apparently it’s been to the point where people were being hired for thousands of dollars to go and purchase a car for these organizations. Note that there is in theory absolutely nothing illegal about this except the manufacturers want to protect their markets.
However if you decide to walk in to your local MB or BMW or Land Rover dealer or whereever and want to purchase a new car with cash or even more blatantly several at once, you may be put on hold while you are checked out and may be signing something saying you will not be exporting the vehicle.
Expensive problems/parts and then add in all the gray market as well you have a perfect recipe for an automotive “death spiral”.
Another shoddy Mercedes that only ran for 40 years.
It could have issues for the last 30 years that would have sent a 40 year old Impala to the crusher when it was 10, but only skirted early doom by its prestigious badge.
Let me say it straight instead with my previous snarky comment: It’s stupid and dishonest to point at a fresh 40 year old car in a junkyard as an example of that brand’s worthlessness.
To your point: Unless it had been wrecked or rusted, a 10 year old S Class would be more appealing in 1990 than most new sedans, regardless of its badge. There were more reliable and cheaper to operate new sedans, but they weren’t luxury cars. There was no Japanese competition til Lexus nuked Mercedes’ extortionate price list. People were so desperate for good luxury cars that they put Chevy engines into Jaguars.
You aren’t wrong. This is only one year older than the Fairmont from last week and it’s also in a junkyard, however this one seems to have been well used for its entire time on the road. We don’t know what exactly finally did it in, but the cosmetics are clearly done for and not economical to even begin to attempt to repair.
If this were a 450SEL you’d have a point, but this is a car with 140 horsepower, vinyl seats and no A/C, and that isn’t exactly luxurious, even by 1990 standards. Chevy swapped Jags weren’t usually taxi spec like this either, so I fail to see how it isn’t the badge in this case.
I love that the type of car listed on the door sticker is “Daimler 280 SE”. Not Mercedes but Daimler. I mean technically, it’s Daimler-Benz but if you didn’t know better (and it didn’t say “Daimler-Benz” on the sticker as well) you might think the sticker comes from some kind of British luxury car!
And yes the European headlights do look better.
I actually owned the lowest spec S-class you mention, the 280 S. Think it was a 78, and I owned it around 89/90.
Mine was silver, blue cloth interior, no AC, but also a sunroof. Probaly had still a bit more power then the US injected version, don’t know, but I do remember it was a nice driver, and a great car to travel long distances. Can’t remember what happened to it, probably sold it in the local paper.
MBNA was being awful during this period. They didn’t want to bring in taxicab-spec models for fear of tarnishing their luxury image, and possibly because they were less profitable.
But they didn’t want anyone else to import them, either!
And thus, they are almost single-handedly responsible for the current 25-year import restriction rules, although some other European manufacturers played a part as well.
Sad to see a Benz in that condition. But if the VDO speedometer in that is anything like the VDO speedometers in 240 Volvo’s, that’s just where the odometer broke, so who knows how many actual miles may be on it.
Fuel filler lid was hinged on the bottom because filler cap was put there when car was at the pumps. Lest we forget this (brilliant) car was a gas guzzler and forgetting your filler cap at the pumps was really annoying.
The 280SE was rated at around 18-20mpg on the highway which doesn’t seem terrible for the era at all and had a 25gallon tank. The 450SEL 6.9, well, that may be a different matter…
I had a 1979 W123 280E. Same engine. Those consumption ratings were guesstimate at best. Please trust me, I know what I’m talking about. On the other hand Mercedes did communicate surprisingly correct mileage for their Diesel engines. Possibly because Diesel customers emphasized those unimportant numbers. Who cares.
The lid is spring-loaded, meaning it would snap close if you don’t hold it down.
280 Mercs were a common sight as RHD cars not so much anymore most have gone the way of this one, theres an artist who sculpts in galvanized roofing iron in the Waikato region who has a yard of these old Benz cars hes wrecking for parts, he alone could account for the shortage on the streets, Later model Mercedes are priced from beer money all the way up to really good coin depending on how much is wrong with them, the quality seems to have erroded a little.
This was an excellent read, and I enjoyed it very much.
Thank you, some of these are easier to write than others and this one went well…
It’s kind of strange, I have a great fondness for the W123 and W126 but something about the W116 doesn’t quite work for me aesthetically, when it should be the best of both worlds. Only thing I can specifically pinpoint is I never liked the upswept shape of the indicators (same with the R107/108), but there’s something about the proportions that throw me too. That said, I’d absolutely buy one for the right price, I hate seeing one in a junkyard.
The climate control is exceptionally unattractive, and freaking HUGE. If you thought only American manufacturers would goad you into buying the optional feature by making something glaringly offensive to look at, this is proof zee Germans were no better. On the plus side, basic MBTex may be the best material ever formulated. No 40 year old car from today has materials that hold up as good as this, this seat will still look the same if it’s left in this yard for 40 more years!
The sealed beam headlights wouldn’t really bother me if they were executed like the R107, but the shapeless clear plastic bezels and the strangely uneven inboard placement of the pairs is shamefully rudimentary. It would be more forgivable if it were only done this way on grey market cars like this one, but the Mercedes imported examples had them too.
The W116 looks like big money, like an Escalade, but it puts the old chrome detailing on a modern low, wide shape. The result has a brutal authority, but it isn’t pretty. It’s like a Jaguar XJS.
Earlier today my wife and I were coming back from a trip to the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, and I saw a nearly identical 280 driving up to a gas station in Mount Forest. It was in nice shape, and it was driven by a young man who looked to be quite happy about it. I find it sad to see one of these rotting away in a scrapyard, but as they get older they get more and more expensive to keep on the road, and sometimes the best you can do is part it out to keep another one alive. Still, if you take care of an old Merc it’ll outlast many lesser cars. This summer I lucked out when the rental company announced they didn’t have the standard sized car I had booked…but they gave me a free upgrade to a Mercedes CLA 250. While I don’t think it has the cachet of an older Mercedes, I still smiled every time I started it up and took it for a drive. I get why their owners love these cars.
Well, this one was rotting away for quite some time before it hit the “resting phase” in this junkyard. A few more weeks until the big event and then probably another long boat voyage but in a different form factor.
I don’t know if the CLA has a hood ornament but I do recall that when I had my 400E, getting in every morning and then seeing the hood ornament standing proud at the far end of the hood did give me a sense of pride in the car. It perhaps sounds shallow but there was definitely something to it. This car had the same thing going for it.
The CLA doesn’t have the classic standup hood ornament – it’s embedded over the grille. I would love to drive an older Mercedes with a standup hood ornament just to be able to glance down and see it every so often.
Very nice, even in it’s current state! Don’t think I have ever seen a non AC W116. I am attempting to attach a photo of the Euro W116 controls with A/C, which adds another rotary control.
“, I was always under the impression that there was usually a “W” for West ahead of the Germany until reunification”
NHTSA did not mandate a standardized 17 digit VIN until 1982. The first three digits became a “world manufacturer identifier,” with the first digit indicating the region. At that time, “W” indicated West Germany, and is still used to indicate German products (although the Mini uses a “W” even though it is assembled in England).
You can always check the option codes on the radiator support panel.
I do remember the Grey Market Mercedes in the late 70’s and early 80’s.
Owners were in for a rude surprise when the local MB dealer refused to work on them for fear of losing their franchise. Also, there was the issue of finding Euro spec replacement parts as this was before the days of Ebay or internet access. It was more word of mouth to find someone to work on these beasts.
Another issue was aftermarket A/C units which failed with no warranty or availability of parts. Very risky business.